I am well aware that it has been quite a while since our last communique and I apologize for our long silence. As Ti Ying informed you, our recent mission to seek out the sacred Eightfold Tube of Saṃsāra met with great difficulty thanks in no small part to her misunderstanding of our motives. Yet, thanks to her timely delivery of our message to you, disaster was averted and we thank you for your decisive actions to, once again, save the universe.

Unfortunately, we write to you in dark times. It seems we have encountered a rogue faction, one that calls itself “Colt .38” who follows the words and deeds of a mysterious leader who simply goes by the moniker “Claudio C.” Their ruthlessness and cunning is like none we have ever encountered and while their motives are shrouded in mystery, the object of their obsession is quite clear – the work of one Doctor Daniel Franklin. His most recent creation – a hand made PIG 100 based on the fabled Mick Ronson Marshall PIG used in the Spiders from Mars era but scaled down to 100 watts (dual KT 88 tubes in the power section) – was like nothing anyone had seen or heard in recent memory. Dr. Franklin’s scholarship of the old ones and skills in the laboratory are without equal so it came as no surprize to us when we intercepted a message expressing Colt .38’s interest in placing his skills at the service of their nefarious goals.

Dr. Franklin’s PIG 100

We therefore, made our way to Dr. Franklin’s laboratory deep inside the West Rota submarine volcano as hastily as our submarine would take us. Unfortunately, we arrived to a ransacked laboratory and no sign of Dr. Franklin. It is at this stage where we found a set of portal controls, clearly of Dr. Franklin’s design, that had been beaten badly with some implement to hinder ours or anyone else’s ability to follow. This posed little resistance against the savvy skills of our own engineer, Larry Liska, and repairs were made in less than a day.

After the repairs, we entered the portal and soon found ourselves in a dimension much like our own but quite different. Dr. Carol Sandin Cooley surmised it to be in parallel to our own but simply resonating at a different frequency where color and sound are both vibrant and disorienting. It is in this dimension where we finally encountered Colt .38. Upon a ridge with a wary Dr. Franklin at his side, Claudio C. cast various incantations shouting, “Persona! Chrismagic! Happy! Amplesso in DO m!” that conjured up such beasts as we have never dreamt. In response, Charlie Naked used his powers to call upon the powerful “Jólakötturinn” to our side while Clinton Heider drew upon the resolute force of “Trees” to aid us. There, in that dimension, we engaged for many months in Psychedelic Battle with Colt .38 of which we have provided you with this audio log.

I cannot say whether or not our mission was successful for, while we were able to rescue Dr. Franklin, Colt .38 was able to escape with many volumes of his notes and, worse yet, it appears as if this mission may perhaps be the last for our First Lieutenant Clinton Heider. Upon looking at the carnage in the killing fields – the many guitars and tubes senselessly butchered over these many months – he turned to us is a low and weary voice,”You’re seeing now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars! My energy is spent at last, and my armor is destroyed. I have used up all my weapons, and I’m helpless and bereaved. Wounds are all I’m made of! Did I hear you say that this is victory? Don’t let these shakes go on! It’s time we had a break from it!” And with those words, he removed his dog tags, discarded them upon the ground before us, and walked away towards the “Hearts of Animals.” Asked if he would return, he paused with his back to us and simply shrugged his shoulders before continuing on his path.

With his departure from the Linus Pauling Quartet, this could very well be the last transmission sent under that name. The rest of us, of course, will soldier onward to other adventures albeit under a different name as, without Clinton’s contributions, it would be a disservice to our decades of work together to continue on under that title. We hope that you can understand our wishes in this matter. Naturally, we will soon send you word on our latest expeditions but, for now, we ask that you simply review the audio log.
Keep on rockin’ in the free world.